THE TIGGER MOVIE
Actually, Jim Cummings (voices of Pooh and Tigger), Ken Sansom
(Rabbit), and Peter Cullen (Eeyore) have been around the Hundred
Acre Wood a few times already, in the 1997 video release Pooh's
Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin and various
other recent titles, and they've become quite accomplished at
mimicking the vocal characterizations of Sterling Holloway, Paul
Winchell, and the rest. Assuming Sebastian Cabot's old role of
narrator is none other than John Hurt. The voices are all perfectly
adequate and the impersonations sometimes uncanny, but even so,
the plot of The Tigger Movie is not terribly original.
Written and directed by Jun Falkenstein, the film tells the
story of the energetic, black-and-orange striped creature whose
claim to fame has always been that he's "the only one."
But Tigger has grown tired of his uniqueness, and desires to find
others like him who can bounce properly and do other Tiggerish
things. When the idea dawns on him that all creatures have a mother,
he begins a quest to find his family. But his search comes up
empty, and his well-meaning friends decide to send a phony letter
from his relatives to lift his spirits. Tigger misinterprets the
letter to imply that his long-lost clan is coming to visit, and
soon begins elaborate preparations for their arrival. Pooh and
the rest are faced with either continuning the charade and allowing
Tigger to be disappointed, or admitting their deceitful deed and
possibly losing his friendship. Very serious issues for those
stuffed with fluff.
Although the animation and vocal characterizations are more
or less what we have come to expect from the Pooh/Tigger franchise,
it seems that in the plot department, the producers are running
out of ideas. This could well be attributed to the fact that Milne's
creations have joined the vast roster of cartoon characters owned
by Disney, the Wal-Mart of entertainment, a company becoming known
for running out of ideas. Again we are treated to the Pooh-in-the-honey-tree
sequence, again we see Eyeore's house destroyed, again Roo aspires
to be just like his best buddy, Tigger. In addition, most of the
film's musical numbers by Disney song legends Richard and Robert
Sherman seem intended solely to pad out the film's running time.
The notable exception is the song Tigger sings about his "family
reunion," which features a hilarious clan of Tigger-esque
characters imposed on great works of art and molded into various
famous personages.
Compared to the likes of Blustery Day, The Tigger Movie is a rather pale shadow of its predecessors. But it will serve to fill the black hole of film entertainment that exists every year between Christmas and Oscar time. So more power to it. ***½